By Nick Lander
Everton paraded their new signing Kevin Mirallas before the Goodison faithful during their game against Manchester United yesterday. Signed from Olympiakos for around £6m, the Belgian striker revealed that the Gunners are still on the prowl for a new striker, in addition to their quest for a defensive recruit and a new midfielder.
There had been an expectation that Arsene Wenger would move to bring in a new player up front when Robin van Persie departed, but the Arsenal manager said that he had already replaced the Dutchman when he signed Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski, French and German internationals respectively. It has now emerged, courtesy of Mirallas, that Wenger does still want to add a striker to his squad. Mirallas said, "discussions were at quite an advanced stage with Arsenal but it was always clear it would be totally down to me to make the decision.
"I was convinced that what was important for me at this stage of my career, embarking on new league, is to get plenty of time on the field. I had a possibility of playing more games and longer periods with Everton."
With this revelation, the deduction that Wenger is still searching for a new attacker is a fairly obvious one, but equally is welcome news for Arsenal fans. One name that is well in the frame for a move to North London is Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente, and you can read my thoughts on who could/should be signed in my August column on Arsenal Zone.
This does mean that Arsenal are looking to add players across the pitch, with the futures of Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone in the Arsenal goal still uncertain too, Fabianski seemingly having been dropped from the Arsenal bench for the Italian.
The rest of the transfer window should certainly be active and exciting from an Arsenal perspective, and you can keep track of it by liking the N5 Blog Facebook page and by following me on Twitter - @Goonernl.
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ive been waiting for somewhere to publish an article pointing this out, the fact wenger was talking to mirallas proves we are still after a striker, although it may have been 1 of those deals where it was too good to turn down so wanted him before someoe else did knowing he woudnt get the chance to sign him again
ReplyDeleteWere he in his teens I would agree with you, but as Mirallas is mid-twenties, I reckon we can conclude with a fair bit of confidence Wenger is after a striker.
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